Interwoven, a PodWorx customer, has an annual conference called GearUp. 1,000 or so people attend in the hopes of learning best practices in the world of content management systems (CMS), composite application provisioning (CAP) and multivariable optimization (among many other topics). The company has one of the sharpest marketing organizations I’ve ever worked with. As I wrote in the previous post, they are using a podcast as one of their attendance-acquisition techniques.
The intent of the is simple: to hear from the keynote and session speakers about what they bring to the attendees. For these speakers, it is an opportunity to let their personality shine through. My interview with Robert X. Cringely was a perfect example of how that can work.
In the episode (available below), you’ll immediately understand how the give and take environment of a host/guest interview really let Bob shine. He lets his humor, honestly and years of expertise in the technology field stand out as the interview progresses. You get a real sense that by attending Bob’s keynote address, you’ll be entertained and educated at the same time.
This is exactly what we want the attendees to think.
For those of you doing the interviewing, I believe it’s important to let your guest know that it’s okay to laugh. Laughter is one of the most humanizing things you can do! Have some fun—laugh it up. For those being interviewed, humor it is the quickest way towards removing the perceived barriers usually put up around us (by others). Add to that a little demonstration of subject-level knowledge and life is good.
What are you doing to ensure your guests are given every opportunity to share their humor with your audience? Do you think it’s even important to do so? Chime it, tell us what you think!
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